Simon Joinson at DPReview.com writes, â€œLet’s start with the good stuff; for the price the E-3 offers a compelling and highly competitive feature set, some of which (such as the tilting screen, in-body IS, SSWF dust removal, splash proof body) is unique at this level. On paper the E-3 ticks all the right boxes, and in the hand it feels well balanced responsive and rock-solid.â€

â€œItâ€™s also a camera that will only produce the best results in experienced hands; you need to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and take control of metering, exposure, focus and (unless you’re shooting raw) white balance; the automatic systems are over sensitive and sometimes go seriously awry,â€ Simon concludes.

DPreview.com, the granddaddy of pixel-poring and camera-busting analyses and reviews, gave the Olympus E-3 a Highly Recommended Rating of 9 out of 10. But just, they say. Itâ€™s actually 8.83 out of 10.